In the afternoon and evening of Saturday May 6, citizens of Caimanera, a Cuban municipality closest to the naval base Guantánamo, they demonstrated publicly in front of the government headquarters, according to publications and videos on social networks, mainly Facebook.
The protestAccording to official sources, it was due to “population dissatisfactions and needs that have not been systematically addressed and others that need to be addressed.”
The events occurred one day after be celebrated International Workers’ Day, a commemoration postponed by the Government from May 1 to 5, with a reduced format due to the fuel crisis.
In some of the videos circulating on social networks, dozens of people can be seen walking the streets or gathered in various places. At times everything happens in tranquility and silence; other times shouts of “freedom” are heard, while many filmed what was happening.
According to the official version, narrated by the Guantanamo journalist Miguel Reyes, “three people who drank alcoholic beverages began to demonstrate against the Cuban government in the municipality, then they were joined by others who also openly expressed their dissatisfactions and population needs that have not been attended to systematically and others that need to be attended to”.
However, the report does not detail the content of the claims. On the other hand, it does report that “people and residents of the municipality gathered on the site, in front of the Government and Municipal PCC.”
The event quickly went viral on the networks and was reported and shared by foreign and alternative media. Some opponents of the Cuban government, as has happened in situations of this type in the past, called to extend the protests to other locations in the country.
According to Romero, “a patrol car was sent that, in trying to calm the situation, received resistance from the protesters, preventing the police from acting.” For her part, the journalist Mabel Pozo, director of the provincial station CMKS, pointed out that it was “an act of social indiscipline that required the presence of public order agents.”
In addition, “joined with the forces of order, other people contributed to dissuading the residents concentrated in the street who responded to it and returned to their homes,” Pozo says in a publication shared by the state channel Caribe.
During the protests, there was an Internet outage that lasted several hours, according to reports from numerous users. Neither the Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) nor the authorities, media or other official sources have referred to the matter.
Videos published later show arrests and repressive actions against protesters.
Information from spokespersons and official media have not offered details in this regard. They have emphasized that, after what happened, “citizen tranquility” reigns in the town.
Cuba lived almost two years ago, in July 2021, the largest anti-government protests in decades, in the midst of an economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of protesters were detained and sentenced to heavy penalties by the facts, considered by the Government as seditious, and “acts of vandalism” as part of a “regime change operation” encouraged from the United States.
In addition, there was a multi-day internet outage on the island. In 2022, as a result of the energy crisis and the long blackouts, demonstrations and protests took place in different locations, including Havana.
Since then, the economic crisis has deepened, due to the combined effect of domestic shortcomings, the pandemic, and US sanctions. Cuba suffers from a chronic shortage of food, medicine, fuel and other essential goods; as well as high inflation, which has resulted in growing social unrest and a massive wave of migration.
